Volunteers find flood victims still overwhelmed

A volunteer with Seattle Works took this photo of flood damage in Lewis County. Re-posted courtesy of Susanna Williams

Two weeks after heavy rains flooded areas of Washington state, killing five people, drowning the interstate and devastating homes, people are still coming to terms with what they’ve lost.

“She just started crying,” said Jan Zimmerly Burrell of a woman who broke down when she and her group of Seattle Works volunteers stood before her muddied, gutted home and asked how they could help.

At another home, a man still overwhelmed by the destruction of his entire ranch struggled to focus on his garage — on getting water out of his garage.

It was like he didn’t think help was possible, Zimmerly Burrell said. “The emotion was still raw.”

This is some of what the 28 Seattle Works volunteers brought home with them Sunday, after having spent four hours in several Chehalis homes removing nails, junking furniture and scooping out buckets of mud in one of the 18-year-old organization’s closest contacts with the fresh remains of disaster.

“They were grateful for the experience of actually seeing it,” said Zimmerly Burrell, director of volunteer programs at Seattle Works. “I don’t mean it in a touristy way, but in terms of internalizing it and realizing what people are really going through.”

Seattle Works is an organization that works to mobilize Seattleites in their 20s and 30s to volunteer in their community. For more on how to volunteer, visit the Web site.